Seymour Mayor Matt Nicholson will deliver the State of the City address at the end of the regular city council meeting Monday night.

This year marks Nicholson’s third State of the City as mayor.

The annual speech gives the public the opportunity to learn about the successes and challenges the city faced in 2021 along with updates on current initiatives and future projects.

One major focus Nicholson has this year is on creating more opportunities and resources for people with substance use disorders. He will make a major announcement on how the city plans to move forward with meeting the need for more addiction prevention, treatment and recovery programs.

“This is something we have to tackle as a community,” he said.

Other topics will include the city’s financial outlook and reports from city departments, including planning and zoning, transit, parks and recreation, water pollution control, police, fire, airport and department of public works.

“We’re going to cover what ’21 looked like,” he said. “I think we had a lot of success last year.”

Nicholson said Seymour is trending the right way and will be able to hit some financial goals by the end of this year, including having a 180-day reserve of operating cash on hand. He also is confident the city will have a truly balanced budget by 2023.

“Our financials are in a solid place and getting better,” he said.

Another positive trend Nicholson plans to highlight is development.

“Industrial investment was up in 2021. It was actually one of the top five years,” he said. “It was an over $100 million year as far as promised investment went.”

Nicholson has been able to check off several projects from his 2021 State of the City, including increasing housing in Seymour, the completion of the city’s second railroad overpass and the addition of pickleball courts, new ball diamonds, a disk golf course and the new Mellencamp green space.

He also launched the Curb Appeal grant program in 2021, which saw more than $14,000 in improvements made to residential properties.

“We have a lot of positives as a community,” he said. “Yes, we have negatives, too, but we have a lot going on.”

Nicholson said there are three areas he wants to improve to make Seymour even better in the future: Aesthetics, social offerings and openness.

Part of that improvement will include repairing and adding sidewalks, planting more trees, adding a splash pad and updating the Shields Park Pool. But most importantly, he wants to change the community dialogue on addiction and work together to bring more people to recovery.

The public and press are invited to attend the State of the City at 7 p.m. Monday in council chambers at city hall, 301-309 N. Chestnut St. Those planning to attend should enter from the Third Street entrance on the south side of the building or the handicapped-accessible door facing the post office on the north side.

Those unable to attend in person may watch live on the city’s Facebook page, facebook.com/seymourin.